Tsepiso Mazibuko, winner of the 8th Madame Figaro Photo Prize-Rencontres d’Arles

After lively discussions, the jury of the Madame Figaro-Rencontres d’Arles prize, gathered at the Mas de la Foucault, named the young South African photographer Tsepiso Mazibuko the winner of the 6 finalist selections within the 55th program.^e Publication of the Arles Photographic Meetings. A little later, on the evening of July 4, on the stage of the ancient theater, the president of the jury, actress Ana Girardo hopes to see him on the stage. But no Tsepiso… Disappointment. If! There he is, panting, shaking, and his emotion is palpably transmitted to the audience as the cheers of his friends ring out in the amphitheater.

He is exhibiting the Louis Roederer Foundation’s Discovery selection in the Monoprix area. A young woman born in 1995 in Tokoza township, located a few kilometers from Johannesburg, presents. Ho tshepa ntsepedi ya bontshepe “to believe in something that will never come.” A project close to his heart that deals with the deep frustrations of South African youth born like him after the end of apartheid. “It all starts from a common point of frustration, we don’t really have the means to achieve our dreams, and the system is not designed for young black people to achieve their dreams.”

An unborn generation

His encounter with the lens was in high school, “not really love at first sight,” he admits. A few years later, however, he was selected for the Rubis Mécénat scholarship. At that time, he exhibited his works abroad, especially in Arles, thanks to the program and discovered a new world. the same That’s when I decided to do some work on what it means to be from the “unborn” generation, in a country where inequalities persist. »

Thus, Tsepiso photographs his neighborhood, his neighbors, through photographs where he captures the intimacy of the subject. “He knows that being an artist in the environment in which he operates is not primarily a whim, it is a choice he makes every day and that requires a real reflection on what he chooses to photograph,” Ana Girardo explains. There is a real dedication to his work and an aesthetic that moves me. » Tshepiso Mazibuko wins a €10,000 grant from Rencontres to acquire some of her photographs, as well as a fashion shoot in the pages of Madame Figaro. Enough to encourage and support the work of the promising photographer, who later in the evening also won the Louis Roederer Foundation Audience Award.

Chepiso Mazibuko Ho tshepa tsheped ya bontshepe (to believe in something that will never happen) At Arles Photographic Meetings, until September 29.